painting, The Second Battle of Ypres, 22 April to 25 May 1915
Report a Mistake- Object Number 19710261-0161
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Event
1914-1919 First World War
1915 Second Battle of Ypres - Affiliation --
- Artist / Maker / Manufacturer Jack, Mr. Richard
- Date Made 1917
- Category Communication artifacts
- Sub-category Art
- Department Art and Memorials
- Museum CWM
- Earliest 1917/01/01
- Latest 1917/12/31
- Medium oil
- Support canvas
- Materials Not applicable
- Person / Institution Subject, Bennett, Sergeant Albert Walter
- Measurements Height 371.5 cm, Width 589.0 cm
- Caption The Second Battle of Ypres, 22 April to 25 May 1915
- Additional Information There are no photographic images of the Ypres battle since soldiers were not allowed to carry cameras into the trenches. To document the war, a wealthy Canadian, Lord Beaverbrook, created an official war art program in 1916. He was also responsible for establishing a program of official photographers and cinematographers. Their work helped to provide a visual record of Canada's role in the First World War.
- Caption The Second Battle of Ypres, 22 April to 25 May 1915
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Additional Information
War artist Richard Jack portrays the Canadian stand during the Second Battle of Ypres, which he did not witness. He painted this enormous work of art, with the canvas 371.5 x 589.0 cm, in his London studio. It was the first of almost a thousand works, by over one hundred artists, commissioned by the Canadian War Memorials Fund (CWMF), an organization established by Lord Beaverbrook to document Canada's war effort. Sir Edmund Walker, who sat on the advisory board to the CWMF, felt that Jack captured the achievements of the Canadians during the battle, but felt the work would not resonate with Canadians, who, he felt, were "not likely to appreciate such realistic treatment of war." He was wrong and Jack's painting remains an iconic work from the First World War.
- Caption The Second Battle of Ypres, 22 April to 25 May 1915
- Additional Information The first commission completed for the Canadian War Memorials Fund (CWMF), the Second Battle of Ypres is also one of the biggest. It commemorates the first major action of Canadian troops at the front, which led British Field Marshal Sir John French to declare that the Canadians "saved the situation." Sir Edmund Walker, of the CWMF's Advisory Arts Council in Canada, doubted that Jack's painting captured the achievement in a way Canadians would understand: "Whatever its merits, the public of the future is not likely to appreciate such realistic treatment of war." British-born Richard Jack moved to Canada in 1930.